One intriguing tidbit in John 3 that won’t make this weekend’s message are these words from Jesus: “You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” [John 3:7-8 (NIV)]
We have here a play on words … for the Greek word pneuma can mean in the New Testament context “Spirit,” “spirit,” or “wind.” How it gets translated depends on the context and in this section Jesus compares the work of the Holy Pneuma with the physical pneuma. For the ancients, winds were a matter of mystery. Today, we may better understand the meteorology of wind blowing from high pressure to low pressure areas. But there remains elements of mystery … for example, it isn’t completely clear to me why the area in front of Sacred Heart hospital is almost always windy (and cold!).
Jesus is using a comparison to paint a picture of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. The new birth of spiritual life in Christ is not of understandable, earthly origin. It is not ultimately about family of origin or social factors or a particular church ministry … however influential such forces are. It is about God doing a powerful (and I would call it, miraculous) work in the life of a person so that they can receive Christ, believe in him, confess him, and follow him.
Jesus may also be hinting at what Lutherans embrace as one of most important Biblical paradoxes: that God doesn’t force himself on people (we can reject the work of the Holy Spirit) and yet we can’t believe in Jesus without the Spirit giving us the gift of faith (“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– ” [Ephes. 2:8 (NIV)]) All of which is to say that if we are believers all the credit goes to God but if we aren’t, all the blame falls on us. There is mystery in all this as to why the Spirit breaks through resistance in one person and connects them to Jesus and why others continue to live apart from God. As Jesus puts it, “… the wind blows wherever it pleases.”
The implications of this for our own walk with Jesus and our desire to influence others are significant. We won’t always know in what circumstances that the Spirit is going to blow a fresh wind into our lives. But we continue to go to his Word, participate in worship, read Christian authors, get away for solitude and prayer, etc., trusting that the Spirit will work when and how he pleases to give us new and deeper experiences of life in Jesus. Further, we don’t give up on our efforts to influence others for Jesus despite weeks or even years of resistance. For we don’t have a full grasp on what God is up to or when a spiritual breakthrough will occur. Finally, we let God know how much we’re relying on him as we pray regularly that the unpredictable, uncontrollable Spirit would blow powerfully in and through us.
Pastor Mark
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. John 3:19-20 (NIV)
When I was a kid, on occasion we would throw snowballs at cars. It was never my idea of course! But nevertheless we found it fun to nail the side or the top of the car of an unsuspecting motorist as they would drive down the street. We would all toss snowballs from a distance at the same time in a scatter gun approach and watch to see who would have the timing right. And as you might have already guessed, we did this at night. In fact the point was to launch our bombs from a very dark corner so as to go completely undetected other than the sudden bang and smashing of snow. Then, if the car would stop just disappear deeper into the darkness. No one would ever consider doing this during the day. It would be foolish and suicidal. It wouldn’t take long at all for everyone to know who it was.
I think that is kind of what Jesus is getting at here. When people do bad things, they want to hide it. So often the worst crimes and despicable deeds are done under the cover of darkness. To do them during the day would risk being exposed as evildoers. I find it interesting that so many of us start out being afraid of the dark, but when we mature, we are more likely to be afraid of the light. Of course, Jesus’ point is on a much more spiritual level.
Spiritually speaking our natural tendency is to run away from his light, because we know our sin, we know the mess we’ve made of things and don’t want to be exposed. Sometimes when we see his light of truth it’s like the time one of those motorists came back with a flashlight looking for the brats that were chucking snowballs at his car. We saw the light and took off running! We run from God deeper into the darkness because we are afraid of his light.
But here’s the good news. Jesus brings us not only the light of his truth, but also the light of his grace. He wants to expose our despicable deeds and character so that we can be honest with ourselves and with him– so that through his love and forgiveness he can separate us from all of it. He wants to offer us a new and better life in the light.
Don’t be afraid of the light. Run to it instead of away from it and find life.
Jesus responds to Nicodemus in verse 3: “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” [John 3:3 (NIV)] Jesus had this habit of saying unexpected, almost bizarre things, that would create what one author calls a “faith quake” in others, breaking apart old ways of thinking and creating a new landscape of spiritual understanding and faith.
The Apostle John in recording this conversation employs a play on words. The Greek word translated as “again” also means “from above.” It is likely that Jesus means both here. Nicodemus needs to be born “again” and this birth is “from above” … meaning that is accomplished by the power of God and not from any human source. This is birth is “from above,” Jesus tells Nicodemus, because it accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. In verses 5-6: “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” [John 3:5-6 (NIV)] Now there are all sorts of scholarly discussions as to what Jesus meant by “water and the Spirit.” Likely, he was foreshadowing Christian baptism, but that was something for the future. What Nicodemus would have understood was the baptism of Jewish converts … Gentiles who would receive a ceremonial washing when they became believers in the God of Moses and the Hebrew Scriptures. If this is what Jesus is referencing by “water and the Spirit”, then what he is telling Nicodemus is that just like those Gentiles who were outsiders to the Jewish faith, Nicodemus the ultimate insider also needs to be converted … if he is really going to know God, he has to come to know Jesus as his Savior. This conversion goes beyond any washing with water; it must be accomplished by the Holy Spirit who would open Nicodemus eyes’ to the truth of Jesus. The upshot is the insider isn’t as “inside” as he thought! Is it any wonder that Nicodemus asks, “How can this be?” He knew he was missing something in his faith, but surely he didn’t need to become a convert. But that is exactly the “faith quake” that Jesus wants to bring about in his life.
What about you?
Pastor Mark
I’m not an angry guy. Really! I don’t get angry very easily. I generally take things and people in stride, and I try to see the good side of things. You know, “put the best construction” on things and all that. And yet . . .
Do you remember the hero from the comic book or maybe the tv show or movie, The Hulk? “You won’t like me when I’m angry.”
I’m amazed at what can happen to me when anger gets control. I am like a different person. I don’t get all super strong ( that would actually be kind of cool) or turn green with weird eyes. But if you could see the inside of me there would be a significant change. It would be ugly and it would be dangerous in there. And unfortunately, to often that ugliness comes out and does hurt people. Just ask my kids. At one point things got so bad I made a deal with my teenage son to try to help us both stop yelling at each other all the time. (He suffers from the “hulk syndrome” as well.)
So when I read Ephesians 4, and Paul speaks of anger being a way that the devil get’s a “foothold” in your life, I get it. When I allow my anger to well up and take control, it is so much easier for the devil to get into my heart and my head. And the longer I hold on to the anger the bigger and better hold he is able to get on me. And the more destruction it causes to relationships and my own well being. I have seen this in my own life and in the lives of so many others. Satan loves to fan the flames of anger and bitterness, because it gives him a chance to burrow into our thoughts without us even recognizing that he is there.
Another translation says, “and give no opportunity to the devil.” A helpful thought for me. Why would I want to give the opportunity to him for control of my thoughts and actions. He is the deceiver. He is the destroyer. How much better to give God the opportunity for control in these situations. He is love and truth. He brings life instead of death.
So go to God with your anger. Check it out with him. If it is righteous anger, He will show you how to control it and how to appropriately respond to the situation. If it is inappropriate, He will help you to see where you need to realign your own thinking and emotions, and respond appropriately. And in the end the, through the power of Christ, the devil will slip right off, having no more foothold.
This has nothing to do with your choice of computer. It has everything to do with how you think and how you share what you believe with the world around you. While we are called to live in peace and harmony with those around us, the Bible is clear that we should not sacrifice standing up for the truth in order to keep from offending others. The world around us constantly seeks to push us into its mold of tolerance and political correctness. Jesus calls us to allow his truth to break us out of the mold and be free to speak the truth in love.
Take a look at Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels and you will find he was not concerned with political correctness. In fact, some times it seems that he went out of his way to upset people with his very frank statements of God’s truth. In Matthew 5, he spends some time directly refuting a number of culturally accepted truths.
”You have heard that it was said . . . But I tell you . . .”
Are we being held hostage by a world concerned about maintaining a politically correct culture? Or are we living free to speak God’s truth in love so that we can influence the culture around us with the light of God’s grace?
